All the Chip We Can Handle

21 February 2009 Friday morning we had 20 cubic metres of woodchip delivered. Phyllis still hadn’t given birth and in fact didn’t even appear to have reached nest building phase. I’d taken the day off so I worked hard for an hour putting new chip in Joy’s paddock and outside Arthur’s house. Then when Phyllis had finished her morning sleep I started raking out and replacing all the old chip on one side of her shed. I had just started raking the other half when Phyllis made it clear that enough was enough. As I raked she pushed the chip back and started to spread out the small mound of hay I had given her. She even tried to remove the rake from the shed when I put it down for a minute. The nesting instinct had clearly kicked in so I stopped and left. Iron Maiden Visits Auckland Aaron and I had tickets for the Friday night Iron Maiden show at Mt Smart . We fed the animals an early dinner and at 3:30 we headed down to Auckland. There were 12 of us going so it was a good crowd. I can’t remember the last time I went to a concert and despite the rain I expected it to be a good night. It must be an age thing but I really didn’t enjoy myself. We were in the stands and quite frankly the sound quality was abysmal. I could hear noise but no words. Most of our group, including Aaron decided to join the masses on the bottom field. In fact a good 3rd of the people in the stands did the same. Maybe I should have joined them but the thought of standing, squished in the middle of a crowd for a couple of hours lacked appeal. Aaron returned to the stand after an hour or so and tried to persuade me to join him amid the throng of fans below. I declined and he left again. Perhaps it was the sound crew adjusting things or maybe a shift in the direction of the wind but I was actually able to hear the last half a dozen songs reasonably well. They’re definitely a great live band but all the same I feel like it was a complete waste of my money. I enjoyed them far more when I watched a DVD of their concert from the comfort of my own livingroom. Needless to say, it is probably the last concert I will go to. It’s a criminal waste of money if it proves to be a disappointment. Aaron on the other hand managed to get to the front of the stage and had an excellent time. 51 Departs The Block We had decided that it was 51’s turn for slaughter. I had thought we still had to settle on a date but on Wednesday I rang Aaron from work and he told me he was walking up the hill with a bucket of offal. “What?” I was confused “What do you mean offal?” Aaron then told me Alec had just left with 51. I had mixed feelings. On the one hand our relationship with 51 hadn’t been particularly great. He was a bit bolshy, prone to escape and distrustful of me and Aaron. I didn’t mind that he was being sent for slaughter. On the other hand I felt bad for not saying goodbye and for telling him I respect him. I was a little annoyed at Aaron for not telling me when Alec was coming but Aaron knows that it upsets me. If he’d told me when Alec was coming I would have felt guilty for several days beforehand. Aaron can’t win really.